Myanmar must take back the Rohingyas

The current year marks the fifth year of the military-backed inhumane "clearance operation" followed by a massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas, what UNHRC dubbed as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

Bangladesh bears a heavy financial burden for protecting and sheltering the persecuted Rohingyas. More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived from Myanmar's Rakhine State in Bangladesh's southeastern districts since August 2017. According to a Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) study Bangladesh has to spend around $1.22 every year on Rohingya refugees, a number bound to grow with the population, increasing inflation, and the decline in foreign aid. There are no signs of repatriation.

The intransigence of the Myanmar authorities, particularly since the military coup in the country last year, is frustrating, to say the least. Even the civilian government did not show much enthusiasm in getting back their citizens.

What is alarming for Bangladesh is that, according to experts, even if repatriation starts, it will take as many as 12 years if 300 Rohingyas are being repatriated every day, assuming current population growth remains constant. For Bangladesh, it is virtually impossible to afford this colossal expenditure. As is well known, Bangladesh relies heavily on external debt to meet its budget deficit already.

In addition to the economic burden that refugees impose on host countries, there are other costs too; it leads to conflicts between host communities and refugees over jobs, destruction of forests for firewood, control over the drug trade, and other criminal activities. Experts are also drawing attention to how refugee flows create demographic imbalances and trigger security threats for the region.

To further complicate matters, there is a virtual civil war situation prevailing in Myanmar, which may lead to more Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar borders and pouring into Bangladesh. According to a report published in this newspaper on Thursday, Bangladesh urgently needs $100 million in financial support for Rohingyas who have been relocated to the Bhasan Char Island and for those who will be transferred there in the coming days. The report states that at the 38th National Task Force (NFT) meeting on the Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN), Bangladeshi officials urged UN agencies to scale up their engagement in Bhasan Char.  Unfortunately, no instant commitment came from the representatives of donor agencies who attended the meeting.

Currently, the focus seems to be squarely on Ukraine refugees. Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, recently said that the conflict stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its humanitarian fallout is straining resources everywhere, including in supporting the sprawling refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh along the frontier with Myanmar. We want the global leaders to understand that Bangladesh has been bearing the responsibilities of these refugees–whom Myanmar still refuses to accept as its citizens–for five years, and this support cannot decline.

When the Myanmar forces were perpetrating ethnic cleansing on the hapless Rohingya community, Bangladesh was the only country to lend a generous hand and extend shelter to them. However, Bangladesh believed that the shelter would be a temporary one. We believe that these stateless people have equal rights to lead a dignified life and build a stable future in Rakhine, Myanmar. However, this can be guaranteed only if the world communities express solidarity with them. Stable funding commitment from long-standing donors is a prerequisite for food security, safe water, healthcare, and non-food items for 1.1 million Rohingyas stranded in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh wants to resolve the Rohingya crisis through peaceful negotiations, and Myanmar and the international community should do the same. The ultimate sustainable solution, safe and sustainable repatriation, seems a distant reality now, even after signing two repatriation agreements, due to Myanmar's unwillingness to create conducive conditions. Until repatriation becomes possible, the world must stand by the world's one of the largest refugee-hosting countries, Bangladesh, to uphold the dignity of the 'world's most persecuted minority' of our time. The international community's call for repatriation to Myanmar needs to be stronger, visible, and frequent.